ABSTRACT
Rupert Murdoch, the global media tycoon, was famous for the claim that the development of satellite TV would bring any authoritarian regimes to an end. The media environment is liberalizing, but it is still not free; simultaneously, the People's Republic of China (PRC) regime has still not come to an end, but is obviously transforming. The discussion of the two stories illustrates the exact dynamic between the media and the state. First, the mass media are the mediators between economic liberalization and political liberalization. Second, the way in which the press reacted to economic liberalization was a result of many factors. The limited autonomy and openness given to the media and internet actually served to sustain the PRC regime, just as Deng Xiaoping launched the economic reforms to help ensure the survival of the regime. The rise of investigative journalism is able to highlight the tension between the state and the commercialized media in China.
